Regular readers of this blog might know that Friday night is our usual supper & shopping night out, and my shopping typically consists of browsing at one of the local book superstores. Last night when I entered Barnes & Noble there was an incredibly huge line of people winding halfway around the store, as well as dozens of other people wandering around talking, laughing, using cell phones and ipods, and distracting my browsing while apparently having no interest in buying any books themselves. What they were doing was getting wristbands to guarantee that they could buy the new Harry Potter book when it was officially released at midnight last night.

Books are one of the central aspects of my life (yeah, yeah, eating is pretty close too ☺), but I confess that I cannot understand so much fuss over a single book. 10,000+ books are released every single year, and if somebody is a genuine reader there must surely be something worth reading instead of fixating on a single book, no matter how good it might be. During my browsing last night I saw at least a dozen books I wanted to buy, but I restrained myself and did not buy any of them because I ordered two books through the mail already this week. What this tells me is that those people on the lines were not real readers, only Harry Potter fanatics, more interested in immersing themselves in familiar characters and a familiar world than enjoying a reading experience. I would be willing to bet they are nearly as fanatical about the movies as they are about the books.

I actually did read HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER’S STONE several years ago and, while it was pleasant reading, it gave me no incentive to read further in the series, especially considering how many richer, fuller fantasies are published every year. I am currently reading Susanna Clarke’s historical fantasy JONATHAN STRANGE & MR. NORRELL, which is a fine example of what fantasy can be at its best. So before all you Harry Potter fans attack me for my blasphemous opinion of Harry, I suggest you read at least some other great fantasy before dismissing them all as beneath the level of the great Harry. At least my opinion is based on a broad reading experience rather than blinders that do not let me see beyond the world of Harry Potter.